VulnerabilityPublished 13 Jan 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026

CVE-2025-71072: Linux kernel · shmem: fix recovery on rename failures

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.2 High · fixed in e1b4c6a58304fd490124cc2b454d80edc786665c : patch Linux kernel soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:18 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.2High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 29% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in e1b4c6a58304fd490124cc2b454d80edc786665c, 4642686699a46718d7f2fb5acd1e9d866a9d9cca, 8fdbc6f9a994eb327868a4aa74a58953f31a2d0f +1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 13 Jan 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Linux kernel to e1b4c6a58304fd490124cc2b454d80edc786665c, 4642686699a46718d7f2fb5acd1e9d866a9d9cca, 8fdbc6f9a994eb327868a4aa74a58953f31a2d0f or 4b0fe71fb3965d0db83cdfc2f4fe0b3227d70113.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ a2e459555c5f9da3e619b7e47a63f98574dc75f1, < e1b4c6a58304fd490124cc2b454d80edc786665c	Fixed in e1b4c6a58304fd490124cc2b454d80edc786665c
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ a2e459555c5f9da3e619b7e47a63f98574dc75f1, < 4642686699a46718d7f2fb5acd1e9d866a9d9cca	Fixed in 4642686699a46718d7f2fb5acd1e9d866a9d9cca
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ a2e459555c5f9da3e619b7e47a63f98574dc75f1, < 8fdbc6f9a994eb327868a4aa74a58953f31a2d0f	Fixed in 8fdbc6f9a994eb327868a4aa74a58953f31a2d0f
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ a2e459555c5f9da3e619b7e47a63f98574dc75f1, < 4b0fe71fb3965d0db83cdfc2f4fe0b3227d70113	Fixed in 4b0fe71fb3965d0db83cdfc2f4fe0b3227d70113
LinuxLinux	Affected =6.6	Fixed in–

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: shmem: fix recovery on rename failures maple_tree insertions can fail if we are seriously short on memory; simple_offset_rename() does not recover well if it runs into that. The same goes for simple_offset_rename_exchange(). Moreover, shmem_whiteout() expects that if it succeeds, the caller will progress to d_move(), i.e. that shmem_rename2() won't fail past the successful call of shmem_whiteout(). Not hard to fix, fortunately - mtree_store() can't fail if the index we are trying to store into is already present in the tree as a singleton. For simple_offset_rename_exchange() that's enough - we just need to be careful about the order of operations. For simple_offset_rename() solution is to preinsert the target into the tree for new_dir; the rest can be done without any potentially failing operations. That preinsertion has to be done in shmem_rename2() rather than in simple_offset_rename() itself - otherwise we'd need to deal with the possibility of failure after successful shmem_whiteout().

References

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